www.itcibd.com will be a goldmine for the entire range of ITC's customers - ranging from the soyameal importer from Indonesia to the coffee roaster in the US and shrimp distributor in Japan - according to an ITC release.

The site was unveiled by Coca-Cola India president and CEO Alex Von Behr. Coca-Cola India is one of the major customers of ITC's IBD.

Mr Behr lauded the use of cutting-edge technology to strengthen customer relationships.

The release said that ITC is aggressively forging a synergistic alliance between its two principal competencies - agriculture and information technology. The Rs 8,000-crore company has an agricultural export turnover of Rs 500 crore, among the largest in the country. The site is studded with unique customer- friendly features. `Transaction Manager' gives customers from different time zones a real time update on the status of execution of all their live contracts with the international business division, be it procurement, processing or warehousing. `Decision Support Calculator' generates online price scenario to help the customer evaluate trade offers in terms of alternative quality specifications, delivery periods, packaging and port of loading.

The company is also planning to expand the web-enablement programme for Indian farmers kicked off recently at Bhopal to 13 more states. Pegging the current year investment at Rs 10 crore, the web-enablement programme encompasses setting up of websites advising farmers on the best package of practices for their respective languages.

In the initial phase, ITC will help rural communities set up e-hubs (e-Choupal) to enable farmers access the worldwide web for information. Over time, the setting up of kiosks will become a self-sustaining proposition with rural communities taking a more active role therein.

According to an ITC spokesperson, the project is being personally monitored by chairman YC Deveshwar who sees the project as a unique opportunity to leverage the company's emerging competency in information technology for creating and capturing value for the Indian economy while serving the company's vast network of growers. The ITC chief had recently propounded a new yardstick for judging the economic relevance of a company to its country of operation.

According to him, it is not the nationality of the capital that determines the Indianness of an enterprise but the capacity to create value and contribute to the national economy. Most of the new initiatives at ITC dovetail with this approach, the spokesperson added.

Agriculture will remain the mainstay of the Indian economy and any contribution to the rural sector at large and the agricultural sector in particular is viewed as a rewarding investment in the larger national context.